partner coming to Canada to wait out application

[echao]

Hello

My partner and I applied last year and we have been waiting ever since. We live in Japan together right now. The sponsor application was approved very quickly but her application is taking frever. We applied under family class common law.

We are tired of waiting so would it be alright for my partner to come to Canada and wait it out? Obviously she'll be visiting until her visa is approved.

Any help?

Thanks

 

[bartjones]

Assuming she's Japanese, she's from a visa exempt country so waiting out the PR process in Canada won't be an issue for her. Many people on this board, including my Korean wife, have done the exact same thing. Just be sure that when she arrives in Canada she is clear with the CBSA officer that she is just here to "visit", is not "moving" here, and will either leave or seek an extension when her visitor's visa expires. It's very helpful to have a return ticket as evidence of her intent to return home if necessary. You can always get a refund or partial refund on that ticket later. Extending her visitor's visa should also be fairly easy if her PR is not granted before her initial visitor's visa expires. You should also bring the sponsorship approval letter to show your PR application is in progress. Good luck.

 

[Tanli]

Hello

My partner and I applied last year and we have been waiting ever since. We live in Japan together right now. The sponsor application was approved very quickly but her application is taking frever. We applied under family class common law.

We are tired of waiting so would it be alright for my partner to come to Canada and wait it out? Obviously she'll be visiting until her visa is approved.

Any help?

Thanks

Hi, I just wanted to let you know that my husband did that. He is from Japan and he came here to wait out the process. He came here in June. We thought we'd be done the process by now. We applied in July of 2013. We have almost passed the 14 month waiting period and now I noticed they changed the waiting time to 15 months!! It's so frustrating. He is getting bored not being able to do much here but wait wait wait. Anyways, at the border, my husband had a little problem with the immigration officer because he was not upfront right away with the fact that he had already applied and is waiting for his permanent residency. We didn't really know how to approach the border situation. But, it seems like it's better to be upfront and tell them exactly what you plan right from the start. He also has a one year open ticket but his return date was set for 6 months. Oh and he brought the letter from immigration that they sent to us about our application. Without that letter, he probably would have been turned around at the airport. Anyways, good luck!
Tanli

 

[echao]

Thank you for responding.

I have a question regarding the return tickets.

How far apart did you buy the return ticket??
Six months? One year??

Thanks again for responding.

Eric

 

[Kayaker]

I am the Japanese spouse and I came in March to wait out the PR. I bought a "return" ticket dated in 5 months and a half. (Actually, I came on a one-way economy ticket and bought a fully refundable business class one-way ticket for the "return" portion of my trip. I refunded it after I arrived in Canada.)

Probably a return ticket dated within 6 months is a good idea, as "visits" are usually 6 months long. Of course that can be extended easily, but I would be afraid it would look presumptuous if my return ticket is dated a year later.

 

[echao]

What does one need to do to extend visitor visa?

Is one year bad? We hope that the visa will be granted soon but we are sick and tired of waiting in Japan since we get no response from Manilla.

Furthermore, is it okay to mail manilla once we exceed the usual process times?

 

[Kayaker]

Yes, I think after your case exceeds 15 months, you can contact Manila and I think they're supposed to respond.

Extending the visitor visa is easy - you apply online, from CIC's website, you pay 100$ and you upload proof of funds for your stay. It's straightforward, and I think I got online confirmation that my extension was granted in about 3 weeks, and the actual paper document arrived a week later.

I don't know about one year later - probably it's ok, as long as you assure the officer that you will extend your visitor status within 6 months.

 

[echao]

Great to know.

Thanks